I Don't Volunteer as Tribute
by CharlesTheBold
Summary: District 2 has a well-organized racket - Athletes are trained for years for the Games, after which they volunteer to replace the official choice of the lottery. But what happens when the machinery breaks down? Rated M for sex and violence


**I DON'T VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE**

 _(Disclaimer: I have no business connection with HUNGER GAMES. My only purpose in writing this story is to have fun and maybe share it)_

 **Chapter 1 So Shall Ye Reap**

"I can't do it," said Paddy Pollo.

Agatha Lucrece, lying beside him in bed, said "Is it the Reaping and Volunteering tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry, this may be our last chance."

"It's NOT our last chance," Aggie said firmly. "You're volunteering tomorrow as the District 2 tribute, and you're going into the Hunger Games, and you're gonna win. Then you'll come home, and we'll get married, and we can f*** as much as we like in our Victory Mansion."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence, Aggie. Could you stay with me the rest of the night? In case -"

"Yeah." He might get over his impotence later in the night – particularly if she coaxed him properly –

0-0-0-0-0-0-0

They went to the District 2 square – separately, because Aggie didn't want the Academy officials to know that she was sleeping with Paddy. It was supposed to be against the rules for trainees for the Hunger Games to have sex with each other, but some took the risk, and Designated Volunteers in particular could do almost anything they wanted. You just didn't flaunt it.

Usually the Hunger Games Trainees had a special uniform to wear. But for the reaping, there were cameras and reporters from the Capital, who would broadcast the proceedings all over Panem. Officially nobody trained for the Games. The Academy was entirely devoted to training Peacekeepers, and the Special Wing was just a wing. Trainees like Paddy and Aggie were told to wear civvies today, so Aggie was dressed in a blouse and jeans.

They weren't together, of course. As was usual in reapings, the teens were separated by gender and age. Aggie was with the 17-year-old girls and Paddy with the 18-year-old boys. It was an open secret in District 2 that two 18-year-olds would volunteer and no other teen in the square needed to worry. It was always a surprise when they saw reapings in other Districts and everybody looked terrified.

The setting was impressive. Aggie was facing the dignified, classical façade of the Hall of Justice, which was always the location of the reapings. To the right was Mount Ares. It was beautiful as far as natural appearance went, but every local knew that it was important for another reason: it was a hideout for Panem's principal military base.

To the left, behind a few one-story shops, was the Peacekeeper Academy where all the police in Panem received most of their training. Aggie had entered the Academy six years ago, intending to be a Peacekeeper. But after a year of secret observation, they had decided that she was Career material, along with 30 other candidates her age, and transferred to the Special Wing. Gradually special Hunger Games training was added to her curriculum, on top of the Peacekeeper education. Each year half of the candidates were eliminated – those who failed for minor reasons went back to Peacekeeper training, those who majorly failed were expelled – but Aggie stayed in. They were 4 girls left in her cohort, so she had a good chance of being made Designated Volunteer for Girls next year.

The traditional Escort, Sybilla Sexta, made her appearance, in all her eccentric Capitol finery. As with every year she went through the traditional blessing ("Happy Hunger Games, and may the odds be ever in your favor") and the documentary explaining the origin of the Games, and then got down to practical matters. "First, the Ladies".

Sybilla went to the bowl, rummaged a bit, and pulled a slip. "Alice Little."

"I volunteer as tribute" shouted a female voice from the 18-year-old girls group. It was Penny, of course, who had been designated the Designated Volunteer for Girls two weeks ago, the same time Paddy had been designated for the Boys. Everything was going according to plan. Sybilla pretended to be surprised and invited the girl to come up to the podium to give her full name: "Penelope Theselia." She certainly looked the part, 180 centimeters tall and well-muscled, with a mop of blonde hair. Aggie imagined some runt from District 12 encountering Penny and fainting dead away.

"And now for the boys".

Sybilla went over to the other bowl, rummaged again, and pulled a slip. "Nicolas Sandstein".

Everyone waited for the traditional volunteer callout – which didn't happen.

Aggie looked over at the 18-year-old boys group in shock. Where was Paddy?

Everybody started murmuring, and Sybilla looked flummoxed. Finally she looked at the cameras and remembered how the reaping was SUPPOSED to go. "Come up here, Mr. Sandstein." The boy slowly walked toward the stage, looking pale and astonished. He was a spindly boy by District 2 standards, barely 160 centimeters in height. When he finally reached the stage, and Sybilla urged the two tributes to shake hands, they stared at each other and had to be prodded again. She invited them indoors, muttered the benediction "Um, happyhungergames and maytheoddsbeeverinyourfavor") and the ritual was over.

Now the crowd talked out loud, wondering who the hell the volunteer boy was supposed to have been and why he had not spoken up. Aggie was tempted to rush over to the boy's section and find out what had happened to Paddy. But she had been ordered to come back to the school once the reaping was over, and what's more, she realized it was probably a bad idea to call attention to herself at the moment.

Fortunately all the teenagers in the school had, by law, been attending the reaping, and it was easy to get lost in the crowd. Even the official checking IDs waved her by. She stayed with the crowd as long as possible, then turned to corridor leading to the female Special Wing. She wanted to get to the privacy of her room ( people of her rank DID get privacy) and try to figure out what had happened, before anybody else tried to discuss it with her.

"There she is!" shouted one of her teachers' voices. "Agatha Lucrece slept with the missing Volunteer last night. She might know where he's hiding."

Aggie turned around in surprise, unaware that her activities last night had been discovered. She found herself facing two formidable Peacekeepers – not the usual school monitors, but full-fledged policemen.

"Come with us, Trainee Lucrece," said one. "We have some questions to ask you."

TO BE CONTINUED

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Penny Theselia is a play on "Pentheselia", an Amazon in ancient Greek mythology.


End file.
